Slain Elizabeth woman's cousin gets custody of 2-year-old daughter

Family photo of karla Villagra-Garzon with her daughter, Valentina. the photo was posted on a Facebook website "Let's find Karla" after her husband reported her missing. The husband, Abayuba Rivas, is now in jail charged with killing his wife.From relatives of Karla Villagra-Garzon

ELIZABETH — Karla Villagra-Garzon kept in close contact with her large extended family in the New Jersey-New York area, but that ended after she married Abayuba Rivas two years ago, a relative of the woman said.

"When she married him, there was a total disconnect from the family," said Villagra-Garzon’s cousin, Maria Saez.

On March 19, Elizabeth police charged Rivas, 39, with killing his wife. His arrest, which came three weeks after Rivas reported Villagra-Garzon missing, resulted in their 2-year-old daughter being placed in foster care.

Earlier this month, a family court judge award Saez custody of the child.

"She just bonded with me," said Saez, who lives in Islip, N.Y. "She been through a lot," Saez said of the child, who was first placed with the state Department of Children and Family, then a foster family and than back with the state.

Saez’s attorney, Robert Corcoran, said Superior Court Judge Daniel Lindenann decided April 3 to award custody to the cousin.

"It was the right decision," Corcoran said. "This little girl would have sat in foster care."

He said Rivas, who was represented by the Public Defender’s Office, had opposed the decision and wanted the girl placed with his parents in Uruguay.

Saez said that when Villagra-Garzon was reported missing, her mother and sister traveled to the United States from their home in Nicaragua. The mother and sister are now staying with Saez.

Villagra-Garzon, 32, had graduated from college in Nicaragua with a business degree and came to the United States several years ago, first staying with relatives in New York and then in New Jersey, Saez said.

After marrying Rivas, Villagra-Garzon was cut off from her relatives, Saez said. She said Rivas stopped her cousin from using the internet. "She devoted herself to that baby," Saez said.

On Feb. 23, Rivas told police his wife left their home on East Jersey Street in Elizabeth about 10:30 p.m. to walk to a nearby Walgreens. She never returned.

Police began a search, and said the husband was extremely cooperative.

That all changed about two weeks later when police arrested Rivas and charged him with endangering the daughter for leaving the child home alone and lying to officers, authorities said.

Then, on March 20, authorities discovered Villagra-Garzon’s body in the basement of a vacant house on Southern Boulevard in Chatham Township. Rivas was charged with murder.

Anne Carbon, the owner of the house, said police told her Rivas allegedly broke into the house sometime in late February and either killed Villagra-Garzon there or brought her there after killing her.

A law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the case confirmed Carbone’s account.

Rivas is being held at the Union County jail in lieu of $2 million bail.